LaSalle elementary school did not have a functional CO detector, school board finally admits

More than 40 Montreal students and teachers were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning in January and, at that time, school board officials claimed the building was equipped with recently inspected gas detectors.

Now, however, the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school board (CSMB) is singing to a different tune after Radio-Canada published a report last week showing the École des Découvreurs was, in fact, not properly equipped to sound the alarm when the highly toxic gas was in the air.

In a letter sent Monday to parents and staff of the LaSalle-based school, the board changed its version of the story.

The letter says the inspection of Jan. 21 "allowed us to confirm that there was indeed a detector installed in the mechanical room of the École des Découvreurs."

It was a two-station detector that can detect both types of gas, including carbon monoxide, it says.

Yet upon further inspection, it was revealed that the detector lacked a sensor capable of detecting carbon monoxide, the letter says.

The CSMB says, on the day after the incident, it installed an industrial-type detector that is connected to the security and fire alarm system.

This type of detector is being installed in "all buildings" of the school board, the CSMB says.

Leak sends kids and teachers to hospital

A carbon monoxide leak from a faulty heating system at École des Découvreurs sent 35 children and eight adults to hospital on Jan. 14.

Nine students lost consciousness, while others were nauseous, vomiting and dizzy as a result of their exposure to the deadly gas.

The chair of the CSMB, Diane Lamarche-Venne, said at that time the school was equipped with both a carbon monoxide detector and a methane detector, and those monitors had been inspected in mid-October.

Last week, after being presented with the new elements obtained by Radio-Canada, the CSMB kept its version of events. 

A spokesperson had replied by email "that there was indeed a detector at the École des Découvreurs at the time of the incident," and that at the time of inspection "the detector was in working order."

Before the leak of Jan. 14, the law did not force school boards to equip their establishments with carbon monoxide detectors.

But that changed when the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, decreed that all schools are now required all school boards to carry them and inspect them regularly.